


And All for One - Shorts

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [86]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Insecure Tony, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve, Sick Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-04-04 23:24:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14031126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: Steve often felt like he was drowning in responsibility, but then Bruce would actually smile or Clint would bring him coffee or Tony would look at him like he hung the moon, and it reminded Steve that he could swim.ORThe one where Tony is the youngest of four  (five) brothers and everyone needs a hug.





	1. Sick Tony

**Author's Note:**

> A place to drop all my shorts for this universe. Let me know if you want to see something specific.

Tony was having a bad day. He had woken up with his head fuzzy and nose clogged. He’d been coughing for a few days but this was the first time he had difficulty breathing; his chest felt like it was being crushed, kind of like when he had a bad dream or got really scared when he remembered his dad. Steve had fussed at him, wanting to keep him home from school, but Tony knew Steve needed to be at work and it really wasn’t that big of a deal. His dad had never cared if he was sick; Tony could be a big boy.

By lunch time, though, the six-year-old was utterly miserable, running a fever, and coughing in fits. He went to the nurse and asked her to call Steve so he could pick him up.

“Is there someone else we can call?” asked the nurse. She was new to the school. “Your mom, maybe?”

Tony thought about calling Bruce, but he was probably in class across the city at the university and Bruce was always going on and on about how important his classes were, so he couldn’t call Bruce. Clint was at his high school and would totally come get Tony if he called but Steve had just yelled at Clint last week bout how they would get taken away if Clint didn’t stop skipping school. Tony was wretched but he didn’t want to get taken away.

Eventually, Tony rattled off a memorized number and took the phone when it started ringing.

“Hello?” came a gruff voice.

“B-Bucky?” stuttered Tony, eyes welling up with tears now that he heard a familiar voice.

“Tony? What’s wrong, kiddo?” asked Bucky, his tony softening instantly.

“I don’t feel good,” sniffed Tony. “And Stevie didn’t answer and Clint’s gonna get in trouble and Bruce is too busy and my chest just really hurts!”

“Okay, hey, deep breaths, kiddo. Deep breathes. I’m coming to get ya. You’re okay. Are you at school?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you try your inhaler?”

“It’s all out here. Stevie was going to get the refill after work today.”

“Poor Tony. I’m about two minutes away. Can you give the phone to the nurse so I can talk to her?”

Tony really didn’t want to give up the phone, he wanted to keep talking to Bucky until the older boy arrived because if he kept talking, he wouldn’t start crying. But he was a big boy, so he offered the nurse the phone.

“He wants to talk to you,” whispered Tony.

Tony sat on the chair, coughing into his sleeve, while the nurse attempted to convey what was wrong with the young student. Tony tuned them out, not paying attention to much of anything until Bucky crouched in front of him, all concern and leather jacket.

“Hey Tones,” said Bucky, smiling sadly at the flushed kid.

“Bucky,” coughed Tony, throwing his arms out as the young man picked him up.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Bucky, turning to the nurse. “Thank you for calling me. I’ll sign Tony out with the office. Do I need to get his bag from his classroom?”

“Um, I don’t know,” said the nurse. “I think so. I’m sorry, this is my first day. I don’t know all the rules.”

“That’s fine, I’ll get his stuff later,” said Bucky.

Bucky signed Tony out at the office and left the school. Tony whined when the harsh winter air his his back.

“Ah, shit,” grumbled Bucky, quickly shifting, pulling his leather jacket around Tony, glad the kid was still small enough to fit inside the jacket with him. “Sorry kid. Here we go, I didn’t drive, I was nearby, so we’re going to hop on this bus. Sound good?”

“Can’t we just go home?” asked Tony before he started a coughing fit.

“Poor baby,” cooed Bucky, getting onto the bus and sitting in the middle, as far from the doors as he could get. “I know you’re having a hard day, aren’t you?”

“Why didn’t Stevie answer his phone?” asked Tony, voice hoarse from his coughing.

“I’m sure he was just busy,” assured Bucky. “But we have to stop by his shop anyway. We can ask him then.”

The rest of the ride was spent with Tony coughing and sniffling into Bucky’s neck. When they got to their stop, Bucky made sure Tony was as covered in the jacket as he could be before exiting and jogging the three blocks to the auto repair shop that Steve worked at and where he had left his car that morning after dropping Steve off at work.

“Hey Scott,” called Bucky, heading towards the shop portion. “Just gotta talk to Steve for a minute.”

“He’s on his lunch break in the break room,” replied Scott, not looking up from the computer where he was searching for a reasonably priced alternator for a Volvo 240.

“Thanks man.”

The break room was small but Steve was sitting at the dingy round table eating a sandwich he had packed from home.

“Hey Bucky, I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. How was your lunch date?”

“Probably won’t have a second one on account of the fact that I left in the middle of it to pick up this little guy,” said Bucky, gently bouncing Tony.

“Oh no, I knew I should have stayed home with him,” said Steve, sandwich forgotten as he got up to take Tony from his boyfriend but Bucky turned away so Tony was out of his reach. “Bucky?”

“No, you have to finish your shift, I’m just stopping by to grab my car, you get to take the subway, and let you know that I’m taking Tony to the doctor, so I need his insurance.”

“Bucky, you didn’t have to get him, I could have –“

“You didn’t answer your phone.”

Steve reached out and smoothed down Tony’s hair, feeling incredibly guilty. He wanted to be there for Tony all the time but he was just 20 years old and essentially an only parent, working hard to provide for his siblings, and sometimes he just couldn’t do everything. It was so hard but every time he felt like he was failing his youngest brother – again – something happened.

“Bucky’s just going to take me home now,” said Tony softly. “When you get done with work, can you make me soup?”

“Of course baby boy,” said Steve with a sad smile. “Bucky, Clint’s still at school and Bruce has a late lab, so there’s no one home right now to look after Tony. Let me just ask Scott if Tony can nap in the break room.”

“Don’t even think about it,” said Bucky. “I only have one more class today and I wasn’t planning on going anyway. I’ll take care of Tony.”

Something always happened, like Tony looking at him like he hung the moon and Bucky swaying from side to side, letting Tony cough all over him. So he handed over the keys to Bucky’s car and watched two of the most important people in his life walk away. With a sigh, Steve packed up his half eaten lunch and clocked back in, cutting his lunch in half so he could get off work just a little bit early.

At the apartment, Bucky got Tony changed into some pajamas and into bed.

“I’m sorry you’re missing class because of me,” coughed Tony. “You can go, I’ll be okay.”

“Is this one of those things your dad taught you?” asked Bucky bluntly. There were a lot of times that Tony acted like the energetic, inquisitive kid he was, but there were still so many other times that his previous upbringing shined through, like when he tried to pretend he wasn’t a child.

“Not supposed to be annoying,” whispered Tony, curling into a little ball on his mattress.

“You’re sick, you’re allowed to be as annoying as you want. Now, what do you say we snuggle on the couch and watch a movie? You can pick.”

Tony raised one arm up so Bucky could carry him over to the television.

“Can we watch the dragon movie?” asked Tony, knowing that Bucky hated that movie, so he was clearly trying to test what Bucky had said.

“Dragon movie it is,” said Bucky without so much as a nose wrinkle.


	2. Zoo Blues Pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to the zoo was going to be amazing, but Howard ruined everything.

Bruce was sulking – Steve would have called it pouting but Bruce was 15 and didn’t pout, thank you very much – but he had joined them, so Steve was going to call it a win. It was difficult to get Bruce to do much of anything with the family, so even getting him out of the apartment was a challenge. But it was a nice day and for once Steve and Clint weren’t working at the same time, so they were at the zoo.

Steve felt a bit silly with a large diaper bag since Tony was no longer in diapers but it help snacks, Tony’s favorite teddy bear named Cap, sunscreen, and a change of clothes in case of an accident. When Tony had outgrown the stroller, Steve was elated but also disappointed because that meant the easy place to keep all the things was gone. Hence, the diaper bag made it’s reappearance on any outings.

“Stevie! Bears!” squealed Tony, pointing at the grizzly bear.

“I see them, buddy,” said Steve with a grin. “Why don’t you show Clint?”

Tony let go of Steve’s hand and ran right over to Clint, grabbing his hand as well. Even after a year of being away from their father, Tony still showed signs of being touch starved, so any affection he willingly sought out was given to him – even by Bruce. Clint swung Tony up onto his hip so they could look at the bears together.

“Relax, punk,” said Bucky, wrapping an arm around Steve’s shoulders. “Everyone is fine. It’s going to be a good day. Stop worrying so much.”

“I just worry about Tony,” sighed Steve, shooting his boyfriend a rueful grin.

“He’s happy. You’re doing a great job.”

“Stevie, Clint says there are more bears further on!” said Tony, looking back a grinning. “Let’s go see!”

Tony squirmed out of Clint’s hold and raced off to explore. As he ran by Steve and Bucky, Bucky swept him off the ground and settled him on his shoulders, only wincing slightly as Tony giggled and grabbed tufts of his hair to help find his balance. 

“Onward, trusy steed!” demanded Tony, kicking his little feet.

A flash of guilt shot through Steve as he saw how Bucky steadying hands dwarfed everywhere they touched Tony. After his rough first four years of life, Tony was still painfully small and the doctors said he probably would never reach the height he would have originally due to the malnourishment. But then those screeching giggles filled the air and Bucky’s own deeper chuckles rumbled beneath, and Clint was jumping on his back and even Bruce was smiling (it was small but there), so Steve decided to put his anxieties about the past away for the moment.

They wandered around for several hours, inspecting the animals as much as the people, laughing, and stopping briefly for a snack from the bag, and where just reaching the unpleasant side of overheated when everything went south.

Howard was there, standing near the lions, with a woman who had a child a few years older than Tony, looking mostly sober, and no one saw him until Tony was about three feet away. Tony turned to tell Steve something, probably about how he thought the lion looked rather like Steve but with more hair, when he saw who he was standing near.

Tony froze, blinking up at the man who had terrorized him for years. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t do anything but stare. Howard looked down and saw him but before he could say anything, Bruce was there. The 15 year old picked up the unresponsive five year old, angling his body so Tony was farther from their father than Bruce. The ferocious glare threw even Steve for a loop.

“Stay the hell away from him,” growled Bruce. “Don’t you even look at him. If you so much as even breathe in his fucking direction, I will rip you limb from limb.”

Clint, Bucky, and Steve all jumped in front of their two youngest brothers. 

“Howard,” said Steve calmly, proud that his voice didn’t shake. “What are you doing here?”

“Howard, who is this?” asked the woman, laying her hand gently on his arm.

“No one,” said Howard.

“That’s right,” said Steve. “We’re no one. Have a great day.”

Steve turned away to face his siblings and boyfriend. Bruce and Clint were looking at Steve with fear, hoping he would protect them from their father. Bucky was looking on sympathetically. Tony wasn’t even looking at Steve, he was resting in Bruce’s arms, not really looking at anything, just sort of staring off into space.

“Let’s go home,” sighed Steve. 

Bucky wrapped an arm around Clint while Steve did the same with Bruce. For once, Bruce didn’t fight Steve on the physical affection. In fact, he leaned into the protection Steve was providing, Tony smushed firmly between them.

When they made it home, Bruce climbed onto Tony’s bed with the kid, pulled out a chapter book about talking animals, and started reading softly to Tony. Bucky locked the door behind them while Clint went to take a shower, grumbling about needing to get the stench of the day off – especially Howard. 

“I’m sorry about how this day went,” said Steve softly, leaning against Bucky’s chest in the kitchen. “You should go home. I’m going to be dealing with this setback for the rest of the day, probably the week.”

“Yeah, I’m all set here, actually. Listen babe, your father is a bastard and he neglected you and your brothers and we know he physically abused Tony for years. Running into him today is bound to be painful for everyone, and that includes you. So I’m going to order pizza, we’re all going to cuddle on Tony’s bed and read books or maybe watch a movie.”

“You’re the best,” said Steve, pecking Bucky on the lips with a small smile.

“I know, now go change and get Bruce to change too.”

Steve shook his head and rolled his eyes but went and ahead to corral his brothers into more comfortable clothes. Tony was still not responding, he passively let Steve harangue him into sweats. Clint had finished showering by that point and joined them all on the bed. Bruce was sitting in the corner of the bed, against the wall, Clint was leaning against his legs while Steve was on his back in the middle of the mattress, Bucky on the edge, and Tony on Steve’s chest.

Bruce continued reading from the book, pretending to ignore the adoring smiles Steve kept throwing his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personal Rant:  
> I'm tired of people making snap judgments. I'm Catholic and I love my faith and I've had enough of people taking out their frustrations at a small portion of christians on me every time they find out I'm Catholic. Because do you know how I was raised? It was with the firm belief that I should love everyone - and that means EVERYONE! Yes, some people have taken religion and used it to justify their hate, specifically in this case towards gays, but those people are not wrong and should not represent all people of faith. I'm not those people, I see the good in everyone, I don't get offended easily, hell, I let my ex drag me through the mud because I didn't want people to judge him for the real reason we broke up. So please, don't tell me I'm intolerant because I'm Catholic, please don't spit on me anymore, and PLEASE stop pouring your drinks on me when I'm out. It's a waste of beer.  
> I also wish those people would let me tell them my username so they could read exactly how not-homophobic I am.
> 
> End Personal Rant.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


	3. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve hadn't thought his 18th birthday would look like this.

The moment Steve woke up on his 18th birthday he dragged his father down to the courthouse to get him to sign the paperwork to hand custody of his three younger brothers over to him. After a year of begging and threatening to go to social services, Howard had agreed to give up his kids to his oldest, partially because it meant more time and money for himself but also partially because for all his faults (and there were numerous) Howard knew he had become a terrible father. So instead of a special breakfast or presents, Howard gave his oldest the responsibility he himself could no linger handle.

After the court house, Steve called Bucky to come get them.

Bucky showed up with his father's truck and together with the help of Clint and Bruce, they got all their clothes and essential items loaded into the truck in an hour. From there they drove to the apartment Steve had rented. It was a studio, tiny, dirty, and barely livable, but it was the only place willing to rent to a not-quite-18-year-old. 

"Steve, you can't be serious," whispered Bucky, eyeing the floor that was covered in stains. "You can't live here."

"It's just until I find something better," replied Steve tiredly.

"Steve, you're going to get murdered here," said Bucky. "Please, just come stay with my family until you find something better."

"I can't do that, Buck. If it was just me I would, but your family doesn't have the space for four more people. Besides, Howard won't find us here if he changes his mind. The first place he'll look if he does is your place."

"Steve, where's the beds?" asked Bruce. The 14 year old was not at all happy about the move and wasn't afraid to make it known. "This place is disgusting."

"We're camping, Brucie!" said Clint, marching into the room, dragging three boxes behind him. "That means no beds. Help me set up the hammocks."

For all his complaining, Bruce still adored Clint. He had always looked up to his older brothers and thought Clint was the coolest person, so when the older asked him to help, Bruce was eager to assist. Soon the two were well into setting up a sleeping area.

Steve wanted to cry - this was not what he had expected his 18th birthday to be - because Clint was honestly the best. Steve knew how hard this was on all of them but here the 16 year old was, turning a bad situation into an adventure for his younger brother.

"Tony, no, that's not for eating," said Bucky, interrupting Steve's musing by picking up the 3 year old and pulling a bit of trash from his mouth.

Tony blinked up at Bucky, confused.

"Are you hungry, kiddo?" asked Bucky. "Who am I kidding, of course you are. Alright, let's go get some food."

Bucky looked up at Steve with a grin.

"You clean this place up while Tony and I go get food for everyone," ordered Bucky.

"Caw wide?" asked Tony hopefully. He wasn't sure what was going on and why he hadn't seen his dad in several hours, but he loved going on car rides and Bucky had a car.

"That's right, kiddo, you and me are going on a car ride!"

"Yay!" squealed Tony, clumsily clapping his hands.

Again, Steve was struck with the urge to cry. He didn't know what was going to happen in the future, he didn't know how he, an 18 year old, was going to raise a 16, 14, and almost 4 year old, but as he watched his boyfriend walk put the door of his awful apartment carrying his baby brother, talking to the kid as though he were his own kid brother, Steve knew that he wasn't about to face the unknown alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on my phone, sorry it's short.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


	4. Fire Pt 1

“Steve, you have to wake up!” yelled Clint, shaking his older brother’s shoulder violently. “Wake up! The apartment is on fire!”

“What?” mumbled Steve, not really appreciating being woken up after a long day of work.

“The apartment building is on FIRE!” screamed Clint, already moving on to drag Bruce out of bed.

“Oh shit,” gasped Steve, rolling out of bed, now much more awake.

There was a hazy layer of smoke in the room and he could hear the faint sound of individual smoke detectors sounding from several other apartments, though the sprinkler system seemed to be broken.

“Grab Bruce, I’ve got Tony, we’re going to make a run for it,” said Steve, picking up Tony from his own bed, still wrapped in his blanket. 

“Steve?” said Tony, sounding scared and Clint followed him to the door, his arm firmly around Bruce. 

“We’re okay, Tony,” said Steve, feeling the door with the back of his hand. “We’re just going outside for a bit.”

Opening the hallway, they found that the smoke was much thicker.

“Get down,” said Clint with a cough. “We’re supposed to crawl to avoid smoke.

Crawling with one arm was much more difficult that Steve thought it would be. Eventually they made it to the stairwell and together to brothers ran down the stairs, bursting into the night to the sound of fire trucks approaching. With Tony tucked against his chest with one arm and the other one clutching Clint’s sweatshirt (and Clint still had his arm firmly around Bruce) Steve dragged them all across the street to the opposite curb where they sat down, panting and coughing and staring up as their apartment building went up in flames.

“Wow,” said Clint.

“All my books are in there,” said Bruce quietly.

“Steve? Steve!” came a familiar voice.

“Over here,” called Steve, adjusting Tony in his grip to welcome his boyfriend, who tackled him back in a hug so that they were splayed on the dirty sidewalk.

“Oh my, I thought – are you okay?” said Bucky, pulling away to inspect first Steve, then Tony, and then turning to check on Clint and Bruce in turn.

“We’re fine,” said Steve.

“No we’re not!” snapped Bruce, jumping up and glaring down at his brothers. “All our stuff is gone! How are we going to afford to replace everything? We can’t! We could barely afford that apartment, there’s no way we can find anywhere else. And we can’t replace all our things. My school books were all in there, they’re expensive.”

“Bruce, calm down, we’ll figure it out,” said Steve.

“No we won’t! We don’t have a place to live, Steve!” screamed Bruce. “Do you honestly expect child services to allow you to keep Tony when we don’t have a place to live? They’re going to take him away.”

“Is there a problem?” said a police officer, approaching the boys warily.

“Sorry, Officer,” said Steve, standing up. “That’s our apartment building on fire. It’s just a shock and my brother here is processing.”

“Where are your parents?” asked the police officer, looking around as though he thought parents would magically appear to claim the kids.

“Our mother is dead sir.”

“And your father?”

“He’s not in the picture. I have custody of my brothers, though it’s really just Tony here now, since Bruce is about to turn 18 in a week.”

“Do you have the papers to prove that?”

“In the apartment, which is currently on fire,” said Steve, getting defensive. “But I can get copies in the morning when the courts open. I’m sure you can look it up now, it should be on record. In fact, if you run my name shouldn’t you be able to pull all that information up?”

“That’s not really how it works,” said the officer. “Listen, I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but I do have to take the kid downtown with me, at least until morning when we can prove that you are his legal guardian.”

“That’s bullshit,” snapped Steve. “Here, Bucky, hold Tony.”

Steve handed Tony off to his boyfriend and stepped closer to the officer, keeping his voice low but no less intense as he conveyed his anger.

“You wouldn’t make a parent show documents,” hissed Steve. “It’s only because I’m young. Well let me tell you something. I’ve been that kid’s legal guardian since he was four years old. I understand that you have to do your job but I’m staying with him until you can let him go. You don’t know what it was like.”

“Fine,” said the officer with a shrug. “Have you all gotten checked by the EMT’s?”

They shook their heads and then he pointed them in the direction of one of the ambulances. He watched them, the large blond taking the youngest back from the other large brunet. The blond spoke with one of the EMT’s before herding the younger two teens to get checked over and then setting the youngest down to also get checked before, finally, submitting himself for inspection.

“Everyone is fine,” said Red the EMT. “Expect for Tony. His breathing is sounding a bit rough.”

“He’s been getting over a cold for the last week,” said Steve. “He also has asthma but it’s not usually too bad. The smoke probably wasn’t helpful.”

“I’d feel more comfortable if we took him in and ran a few tests, just to be sure his lungs are fine,” said the EMT. 

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” said Steve. “Um, Bucky, did you drive here?”

“Yeah. I can take you guys to the hospital,” said Bucky promptly. He could tell that Steve was dazed by everything that was happening.

“I’ll have Child Services meet you there,” said the police officer. He felt for the small family, he really did, but he had a job to do and he really needed to get back to those who needed his help more.

“I can take the kid,” offered Amber.

“No thanks, I can’t really afford an ambulance ride right now. Bucky can get us there. We’ll go now.”

Bucky tucked Steve under his arm and scooped Tony up.

“Come on, kids,” said Bucky, gesturing with his head towards where he had parked half a block down. “Let’s go to the hospital.”

Bucky got everyone loaded into his car, Tony strapped into his car seat. Then he drove the few blocks to the hospital, the entire time the car was oddly quiet.

Once there, they had enough time to unload and start the paperwork when Child Services showed up in the form of a middle ages man who looked bored and exhausted. 

“Hello,” said Steve. “I’m Steve, this is Tony.”

“Hi, I’m Mr. Ross, I’m here to assess the situation,” said Mr. Ross, sounding super bored.

“Alright, well it’s going to be a while because we have to wait for Tony to be checked,” said Steve with a forced smile. “So why don’t you just get the questions out of the way so by the time they call Tony we can be done.”

“I’m going to be straight with you,” said Mr. Ross. “You don’t have a place to live, you have nowhere to house the kid, and you have nothing to your name. I’m not going to be able to release Tony into your care. We have to think about what is best for Tony. He needs consistency and a roof over his head. It’s not forever – probably – but it will be for a bit.”

The hospital waiting room seemed to freeze. Noises were muffled, as though they were coming through water and marshmallow fluff. Because there was no way he could come up with a place to live and get the essentials before Tony was seen and cleared by a doctor. Tony was going to be taken away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be fluffy. A brief fire and then all the cuddles....but then it turned into this and there's a part two and it turns out I have a lot of emotions to work through so....this is what you get.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


	5. Fire Pt 2

No one told Tony.

Steve sat down on the bed with the kid because Tony kept trying to pull the mask from his face, not liking the confining feeling. He had never liked it and when it had been needed in the past, the only way he tolerated it was if one of his brothers was next to him distracting him. Steve wasn’t about to deny the kid any form of comfort he needed at that moment.

And if Steve needed to hold Tony just as much as Tony needed to be held, well, he wasn’t going to pretend it wasn’t so.

“Okay, I scavenged papers from every waiting room and a few bins,” announced Clint, waltzing into the room with an armful of papers. 

“I’ll look for sales on beds and kitchen supplies,” said Bruce, taking one of the papers from Clint and sitting against the wall on the floor.

“Hammocks work too,” reminded Clint. “I’ll look for apartments.”

“Me too,” said Bucky, walking into their area from wherever he had disappeared to. “And anything else that we’ll need to replace. Obviously, focus on the essentials but if there’s a good deal don’t hesitate to circle it.”

Steve wanted to cry at the sight of his brothers and boyfriend all sitting on the floor of the emergency room cubicle at four in the morning, scouring the papers to try and make it work to keep the family together. They all knew it wasn’t going to work – they would have to interview and have checks for most of the apartments, but it was worth a try. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t need a place to stay – and to prove they could get Tony and Bruce back. But they had just lost everything they owned in a fire and instead of falling apart they were pulling together. There would be time to mourn the loss of their home and things later.

Hopefully, that would be all they were mourning.

When Carol Danvers finally arrived at the hospital, she was far more harried than usual. These kids, she swore, were going to be the end of her. It was like they were actively trying to give her grey hairs.

“Steve,” said Carol, spotting the blond in one of the emergency room cubicles, the sliding glass door wide open.

Steve looked up from where he had been sitting on the bed, Tony leaning against him with a mask over his face, feeding him medicine to settle his lungs. Clint, Bruce, and Bucky were on the floor at the foot of the bed, out of the way, newspapers spread between, all focused intently on whatever they were doing.

“Hi Carol,” said Steve, his voice sad and resigned. “Do you want to talk outside?”

“No!” said Tony, hand going up to clutch Steve’s dirty shirt. “Stay.”

“It’s fine,” said Carol with an easy smile at the kid. She loved all these kids, but Tony had a special place in her heart. “Why don’t you tell me what happened first?”

Steve gave her a confused look.

“I mean, I know there was a fire of some sort,” said Carol with a sigh, running her hand through her hair. “That much was clear, but to be honest I was asleep when I got the call and the details are a bit fuzzy. Bucky was pretty panicked.”

“Wait, Bucky called you?” said Steve. “I thought Mr. Ross would have called.”

“Mr. Ross,” said Carol, her eyes going cold. “And why would he call me?”

“Because he showed up and said he was – that – well, we don’t have a place to live,” said Steve. “So, he said that –“

Steve nodded down at Tony and mouthed ‘taken away’.

Carol groaned. There were few people in the world she hated more than Ross. Earlier she had been wrong – these kids would not be the end of her, Ross would.

“Ross is an idiot and not in charge of anything that happens to Bruce and Tony,” stated Carol firmly. “You have legal guardianship – that has never been in question. Yes, you were particularly young when you took charge of your siblings, which is why we took a special interest in your case but you have consistently held a job, the kids are happy and healthy, and until now you have always had a place to live.”

“Yeah, shit places to live,” grunted Bucky.

Clint flipped him the bird without tearing his eyes from the papers.

“So –“

“So Ross is a power-hungry idiot who happened to be working the right shift on the phones and decided to take advantage,” said Carol. “Okay, I’m going to go sort out that mess. You, Steve, stop stressing. Everyone is fine, everyone is staying together. And if Ross comes in here again then call for a nurse and ask for security. I’ll go look for him and make some calls.”

Carol left the room, leaving the small family together.

“How did you get Carol’s number?” asked Steve, looking at Bucky, though what he had meant to say was thank you.

“She gave it to me,” shrugged Bucky. “She said that she didn’t think you would reach out to her if you needed anything. You’ve always been weary about strangers coming in and poking around, thinking they were going to take the kids from you. But I’ve talked to Carol several times. She’s the one with all the good ideas for resources, you know. You could try giving her a call yourself. She’s not going to try to split you guys up. Her goal is to keep the family together.”

“Yeah, but can you blame Steve for being worried with assholes like Ross out there?” snapped Bruce, the emotional and physical exhaustion catching up to him not that he knew the immediate danger of separation was gone. He hadn’t wanted to be sent anywhere either.

“Not at all, Brucie,” said Clint, pulling his younger brother to him, forcing Bruce to lean against Clint’s shoulder. “No one liked Ross.”

“Clint, stop, let me go,” whined Bruce, though his attempts at getting free were half-hearted at best. 

“Nope, I thought you were going to be leaving me, now you have to suffer the consequences and cuddle with me. Deal with it.”

Bruce rolled his eyes but settled down.

“Stevie?” said Tony, looking at up his oldest brother with wide eyes.

“Yes baby?” said Steve.

“Where is Brucie going?” 

“Nowhere,” said Steve with a huge smile. “Absolutely nowhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm forcing myself to participate in NaNoWriMo this year because I've had such a bad few months that I need to get back into something I love - writing. And instead of working on my serial killer original work I'm writing a Hogwarts/Avengers AU. No, there won't be Harry Potter characters in it but it will be set at Hogwarts. Wish me luck.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari

**Author's Note:**

> I finally saw Black Panther! Basically all I want to do now is write a Tony/T'Challa short. Anyone interested? Anything anyone wants in particular?
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
